Context. As a planet eclipses its parent star, a dark spot on the surface of the star may be occulted, causing a detectable variation in the light curve. Aims: We study these light curve variations during transits and infer the physical characteristics of the stellar spots. Methods: A total of 77 consecutive transit light curves of CoRoT-2 were

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We present a catalogue of 1602 white-dwarf-main-sequence (WDMS) binaries from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 (SDSS DR6). Among these, we identify 440 as new WDMS binaries. We select WDMS binary candidates by template fitting all 1.27 million DR6 spectra, using combined constraints in both χ2 and signal-to-noise ratio. In

We present photometry of nine cataclysmic variable stars identified by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, aimed at measuring the orbital periods of these systems. Four of these objects show deep eclipses, from which we measure their orbital periods. The light curves of three of the eclipsing systems are also analysed using the lcurve code, and their

Further to ATel #2455 (see also ATels #2380, #2384) detailing recent INTEGRAL observations of the 2010 outburst of the black hole candidate transient source GX 339-4, we report on our optical monitoring observations: the source has brightened by ~ 4 magnitudes in the last 4 months, since its faint state (ATels #2270, #2281). We note that these are

We present new high-resolution spectroscopy of the low-mass X-ray binary Cyg X-2, which enables us to refine the orbital solution and rotational broadening of the donor star. In contrast with Elebert et al., we find a good agreement with results reported in Casares et al. We measure P = 9.84450 +/- 0.00019 d, K2 = 86.5 +/- 1.2 kms-1 and V sini = 33